"Man Gets Tired of Being in the Spotlight" by Kai River Blevins

(after Jacqui Germain)

Tells me that I’ve spent enough time

antagonizing him, corrupting his divine

name, condemning the thinly veiled violence

in his bones.

He demands that I forgive

his unrelenting presence,

forbids me from saying all that I’ve learned

about him – like Man is the aftertaste of disgusted stares.

or Man comes alive when hardened fist meets pliant ribcage,

his laughter

exposed

by the sudden crack.

or Man says my mouth is a broken levee, my voice

an unwelcome flood (softly) wearing down

the fang of him.

or I know there is something powerful about queer blood.

Why else would Man be drawn like a rabid beast

to the iron of me?

or Man begs silently for the warmth of desire, for open arms,

for hands that no longer grasp at his throat.

or Man is a leech, a broken mirror, a wounded animal –

small and fragile and desperate and defeated.

or Man has turned my family against me.

Man has turned my family against me.

Man has turned my family against me.

or Man has turned my family against themselves.

or I was born into the hands of a doctor who sucked

Woman from my throat, filled my gasping

lungs with the drought of Man.

or I was born into the hands of a doctor who worshipped Man.

What chance did I have?

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